Elephants Books

this is the best book about the 60s and the haight ashbury
ever writen i should know im white rabbitt

As one of the lead characters in this story, I was quite taken with the veracity of my performance. Nick did an amazing amount of leg work over the course of the summer, based initially on people I introduced him to. He pursued many paths of interest and covered a substantial amount of territory. The narrative, as described elsewhere, had as much structure as the situation itself allowed, which was really very little. The Haight-Ashbury was about things happening. Things, in this milieu, were not particularly planned, beyond setting a temporal framework and attempting to provide events for the framework, or just letting the events take over and flow where they would. As a followup, Stuart Loomis and the White Rabbit have recently been in contact by email as a result of a documentary on the period broadcast on PBS. Kelly avoided Vietnam and spent many years as a roady for rock and roll bands. He disappeared from view in the early eighties. Nick himself has spent a number of years recently working on plays for the stage, after a long successful career at the Washington Post. The White Rabbit gave up on the idea of pursuing a medical career and is a senior executive in Information Technology.

This is the book that really explains what went on in San Francisco in 67. Von Hoffman does a wonderful job of telling the scene how it was. Ifyou want to understand hippies of the 60's read this book. It takes a different approach of the scene by not foccussing on anything, but covers everything. Von Hoffman did what most writers of the Acid era did or could not do; he was unbiased. The only down side was the strange organization. It had no chapters or real structure. Despite that fact, the book was very fluid.

We bought this book for our daughter a year ago, just after she turned 2, and she immediately loved it. Lovely gentle themes of friendship, helping, the meaning of home and caring about others. Because it is divided into 5 chapters, it's easy to fit Zanzibar Road stories into our bedtime routine, whether we have time for just 1 or all 5 stories. Now she is 3, and she requests specific stories each night. She particularly loves the one about the shadow on the wall, I think because she can related to being scared in the dark and likes the idea of turning a scary shadow into a familiar-looking well-loved shadow.

Mama Jumbo is an elephant that is loking for a place to call home. She build her home from a pile of junk on Zanzibar Road. She is lonley and looks for someone to share her home with. She ends up taking in a homeless bird and this is book about their life together



The book has mini chapters that could each stand alone as a story.



Perfect a for bedtime read aloud

The illustrations in this picture book are wonderful and make the story come to life. Mama Jumbo, a female elephant, is looking for a place to live when she happens upon a small South African village filled with different animals. They are a lively bunch, including Bro Vusi, Little Chico, and Baba Jive, and they live in their own homes in the village. So, when Mama Jumbo needs a roommate, the only homeless animal - Little Chico - volunteers. Mama Jumbo cares for Little Chico like her own child, and the book is divided into mini-chapters that can stand alone as a story. Mama Jumbo wears traditional African clothing and the story tries very hard to be `authentic.' The book is a wonderful introduction to diversity and friendship and caring.

Roger Youmans is a man who puts action to his convictions. From being the first white college student to join a black fraternity in the 1950's to his several mission trips to Congo, Youmans acted upon his understanding, compassion and faith. When approached about the mission trip to Congo, he says the question in his mind changed from "Why would any American doctor want to go to Congo and get into that mess?" to "How would we go about doing it?" Totally unprepared in his own eyes, he found a way. He departed for Congo on his first missionary trip before the end of his internship. He and his wife, Winkie, launched an adventure with little preparation, little knowledge of the language and with two very young daughters. The story of the family's life in a very different cuture, his own frustration with the deficiencies of the Congo medical system and the perseverance of the Youmans family cause one to assess one's own faith. It is a challenge to compare the sacrifice of the Youmans' and the poverty of the people of Congo with our own comfort and affluence. It raises the questions, "Where is the 'grass being trampled (the people suffering) within my reach?" and "How shall I respond?"

This is a beautiful story that should be read by everyone who loves Africa. It tells of a young couple's willingness to sacrifice a comfortable life in America to bring quality medical care and loving service in a remote, primitive setting. It will challenge you to examine your own values in a demanding secular world.

I loved this book! Although it was a memoir of events beginning 50 years ago, the personal, humane writing style made it all seem so very current. After all, racism in this country and horribly ignored problems in Africa are all too current today. Roger Youmans' good heart, medical talents and progressive attitudes are heroic, but he relates the events humbly and simply, but never condescendingly. That it was written by a missionary at first worried me that the book would be "preachy." Absolutely not. Faith and religion are on the sidelines of this family's bravery and struggles, nevertheless guiding them and providing them with what it takes to immerse themselves into a very foreign culture and embrace its problems and needs with open, trusting hearts. Read this book to not only learn about Africa, but how a human being lives in the world honestly, confronting racism personally--not politically.

This book's been out of print for awhile, which strikes me as strange. Anyhow, out of the classic Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff, this one is probably the "least" among them. It's a great read, and the artwork is delightful, but I did feel a little tricked by the title. The book's called "Babar and Zephir," but Babar's only shown on the first page, and even then, it's just his back! The book's all about Zephir and a crazy adventure he goes on, so it really should have just been called "Zephir" or something. I read a review which commented that this was the strangest of all the Babar books, and I agree. It certainly has the most fantastical storyline, involving Mermaids, strange creatures that will turn you into a rock unless you make them laugh, etc. Zephir's funny, and the story's very cute. It's not the best book in the Babar series, but it deserves to be in print and read. It should be available in the "Bonjour Babar!" collection, if you can't find the individual copy used. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and it was a nice little detour in the series.

Page aften page of strange and curious imaginary creatures, mermaids and monkeys! A delightful book.

Zephir embarks from the elephant school, off on his summer vacation. He arrives home at Monkeyville, which is filled with wonderful little houses and shops that hang from the gigantic trees, and off he and his family go to their holiday house, where the first thing that his mother does is prepare a "good soup of bananas and chocolate" (!).

The next day a tremendous package arrives at the post office from Babar. It is a rowboat for Zephir! On a daredevil fishing trip (for monkeys generally do not like the water), Zephir accidentally catches Eleonore, a lovely little mermaid, instead of fish! Sadly he releases her, but she has promised to come to his aid if he ever needs her. Upon his arrival back on shore he is greeted with the horrible news that little Princess Isabelle has been kidnapped in a green cloud smelling of rotten apples! Zephir calls on Eleonore, and she takes him in her fish carriage to her Aunt Crustadele.

Aunt Crustadele believes the culprit can only be Polomoche, who lives on an island with his gang of Gogottes (a very strange assortment of creatures!). "They... are not savage. But they are bored," she says. She sends Zephir off on his quest, telling him he will recognize Polomoche by his pointed horns and yellow skin.

What an adventure! One thing is for sure... any child reading this book will not have a chance to be bored!

This is a really nicely presented book but may not suit a child who is anxious about an upcoming wedding. Isabelle's nerves may lead to similar feelings in your flowergirl! Probably suit a slightly older flowergirl who doesn't take books too literally!

This hard back book was a big hit with my three year old flower girl. The pictures were bright and the story was fun. I think she will read it many more times to come.

As a fan of Robert E. Howard in general and Conan specifically, I've been pleasantly surprised by the treatment given these seminal stories by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord. In the two previous volumes, each has been centered around a canonical Howard story (the Front Giant's Daughter and The God in the Bowl, respectively), with the storyline showing us what adventures lead up to the tale and what adventures subsequent happen as a consequence. Conan Vol. 3: Tower of the Elephant follows this same pattern and does not disappoint.

Picking up where Vol. 2 left off, we find a hungover Conan waking up in an inn, robbed blind by his companions. Fed up with what he sees as the wickedness of civilization, Conan skips town and begins his travels anew, fighting demons, Lovecraftian tentacle-beasts, dark sorceries, and scheming allies and lovers along the way. It is in coming to the wicked thief-city of Zamora that Conan learns of the mysterious Tower of the Elephant, and the supposed riches and unspeakable dangers that lay within. What follows is a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl-type story in the style that only Howard could tell it, with (as they said in the 1930s) a fantastically 'weird' finish.

Busiek treats Conan with respect and does justice to Howard's original vision. The pencil-sketch artword of Cary Nord, combined with the digital painting of Dave Stewart, creates a brilliant landscape of fluid action that is reminiscent of Frazetta artwork. I am consistently impressed with the quality of this series and look forward to future volumes. Fans of Conan, or of great graphic art, shouldn't hesitate before buying this. Enjoy!

While this volume has the same story line padding of the previous two that padding is showing more depth and originality. Conan is growing on every page. He's smart, resourceful but still a little naive which makes his adventures all the more interesting. I've mention my reservations with Kurt Busiek's writing in the previous volume but this string of tales shows that he can write some engaging situations and has a keen grip on Conan's character development. My greatest concern is that the writing might be too clever, more like Fritz Leiber and less like Robert Howard. Is that really a bad thing? Even Fritz saluted Robert's work and thought his writing opened a door to a type of fiction that was truly unique in it's day.
Cary Nord and Dave Stewart are still a delightful art team. My two reservations are that while the coloring is good there's a dream-like haze, here. This has been a problem from the outset of this series. He has a rich palette and very good range so it's no worse than a lot of the films being made today with the manipulation of color in this digital age. I just wish there were deeper blacks and an occasional crystal white highlight. My second pick is a simple one; Conan's looking a little on the loutish side. I hope Cary moves away from this at some point because it has a way of making Conan look older than he is in these tales. I've always been fond of Yag Kosha's summation of Conan when he says, "The clean, lean, fierceness of the wastelands marks you." This does not make me think of a burly man-boy, but that of powerful, lithe man. Howard was fond of descriptions like compactly built and catlike and that does not summon up images of professional wrestlers from the television. Cary's not drawing Conan quite like the bodybuilders but Conan is starting to bulk up a bit more in his drawings.
Nitpicks, both, I assure you. The stories are showing Conan maturing, learning to flow more with the city dwellers surrounding him. While he still stands out his mannerisms show that he's starting to be at home in his new surroundings, the city of thieves. I particularly like his attempts at learning philosphical ideas.
Then's there's the bonus. The "Tower of the Elephant" adaptation is the best to date. To put the icing on this cake veteran comic artist (Batman, the Shadow, Carson of Venus, Conan, The Rocketeer, etc..) designer, cover artist and illustrator, Michael Kaluta draws the sequence explaining Yag Kosha's tragic history on Earth.
This volume is easily the best of the three to date.

Crocodile's masterpiece is a great book about FANTASY and what it can do to you. Can someone have more fantasies with less ? This is also a book about art, being smart and phylosophy. Buy it, you'll never regret it ! It IS a MASTERPIECE !

The best thing about this book is Max Velthuijs' soft yet vivid watercolors. In this account of a Crocodile artist and his prospective customer, Elephant, Velthuij paints pictures of Crocodile's paintings, as well as illustrating the text. Many of these text-related pictures are drawn with framing borders, thus increasing the `play within a play" feeling. There's also an interesting comment about the enjoyment of art; Velthuij suggests that one's imagination--playing across an empty canvas-creates the best pictures of all. Elephant is initially angry to learn that the creative magic lies within in hi head rather than the `painted" picture, but finally realizes "the real beauty of your masterpiece."

The book, therefore, is simultaneously pro- and anti-art, if art is defined as a person-made tangible object. It's a little bit confusing, but I doubt that this book's audience is going to get into the philosophical musings that an over-educated adult may contrive. Mostly, this is a simple, fun book, with warm illustrations by the award winning Mr. Velthuijs. I just wish he hadn't drawn the crocodile smoking a pipe.

We bought this book for our children when we were expecting our new Thai au pair, and while certainly not every Thai family has an elephant in their backyard, it was a fun comparative for the kids between our lives and what some people experience in Thailand. The photos are a little dated, but there's good information, generally, about this village that raises elephants in Thailand with special emphasis on one specific elephant. Best for a 4-7 year old or so, I'd say...

The six-year-old American children I bought this book for absolutely love it. They're amazed to see children their own age treat elephants as family pets. The book has terrific pictures, and the text is oftentimes humorous; the bit about the "elephant poop roads" never fails to garner giggles.

The illustrations are colorful and the story is touching. All mothers can relate to the worry of the mother elephant because her children are so different, just as human children in one's family are different. The two little elephants are guided to find their own place in the world, just as we guide our own children and/or students to believe in themselves as individuals and to know it's okay to be their own unique selves.

I have used this story in my own family as a gift to a grandson who was adopted from India. I also used it in my Kindergarten classroom to introduce the countries where elephants are found in the wild (although sadly there are no more wild Indian elephants) and to discuss how to tell the differences between African and Indian elephants.

It's difficult to pin down what brings forth the magic of this magnificent book - the poetry in the simple, unpretentious prose, or in the sympathetic, perfectly accomodating illustrations. This is the first book I've read by Ms. Chambers, and I will scour the shelves for her other works. My kids loved this book, and I fell in love with it as well.

The story is about Palo and Mala, a pair of twin elephants who couldn't be more different. Palo is gentle, almost timid, and loving. Mala is wild, carefree, and energetic. The twins' mother is concerned that she won't be able to find a life suitable for the two of them. By book's end, we find that it is acceptable to embrace our differences, rather than attempt to stifle them. The elephant twins are to be given their own, very different settings for their very different lives, and the reader soon learns that all elephants will be the recipients of their good fortune.

This book touches the children on so many levels. Not only are kids taught that we can be different and still be loved, but we can also be important for our differences. The kids may wind up learning a bit about how to tell the difference between Indian and African elephants, too, if they're not careful!

An exceptional book for every child's shelf.

Awesome pictures and amazing book! One of a kind! The messages are brilliant! Only Graeme Base could invent something so wonderful!

We just love this book. My 7 year old son received it for his birthday and my husband and I could not put it down. Looking for the clues on each page and trying to solve the mystery was alot of fun for all of us.